Lamp seal means

ABSTRACT

A sealing means primarily for incandescent electric lamps which serves to prevent, primarily, entrance of moisture, and also of other substances, into the lamp socket, and to insure against loosening of the lamp in, and its possible escape from, such socket while in use. The sealing means include, primarily, a resilient, and preferably compressible, sealing ring or collar, which may be molded from natural or synthetic rubber, and is adapted to seat between the outer end of the lamp socket and the glass envelope of the lamp bulb at the slight bulge just above the metal lamp base, and, if desired, the sealing function of the ring may be augmented by, and/or the ring secured to the envelope of the lamp bulb by a normally compressible, yieldable plastic substance, or composition, such, preferably, as a silicone adhesive which is commercially known as &#39;&#39;&#39;&#39;RTV.&#39;&#39;&#39;&#39; The sealing ring may be provided in one, or both, of its axial faces with a circumferential recess to receive, locate and partially confine the yieldable plastic substance, and it may also be provided with a circumferential, radially inwardly extending, groove in which may be confined a spring ring having the form either of a resilient wire ring or a coiled spring ring which serves to fill the groove and functions to maintain the desired circular form of the ring and its desired axial resiliency. If desired, the groove may be filled with a compressible plastic. Thus, by these means, the lamp, when screwed home into circuitestablishing assembly in its socket, will be resiliently locked in such assembly and sealed against the entrance primarily of moisture, and other substances, into the socket. Moreover, the resilient nature of the sealing means assures a continuable ability of it to adjust to changes in atmospheric conditions, particularly as reflected in variations of temperature and moisture content, to thereby maintain its sealing effect during the life of the lamp and to enhance such life, and the life of the socket.

United States Patent May 2, 1972 Primary Examiner-Joseph H. McGlynn Attorney-William H. Finckel, Jr.

[ ABSTRACT A sealing means primarily for incandescent electric lamps which serves to prevent, primarily, entrance of moisture, and also of other substances, into the lamp socket, and to insure against loosening of the lamp in, and its possible escape from, such socket while in use. The sealing means include, primarily,

a resilient, and preferably compressible, sealing ring or collar, which may be molded from natural or synthetic rubber, and is adapted to seat between the outer end of the lamp socket and the glass envelope of the lamp bulb at the slight bulge just above the metal lamp base, and, if desired, the sealing function of the ring may be augmented by, and/or the ring secured to the envelope of the lamp bulb by a normally compressible, yieldable plastic substance, or composition, such, preferably, as a silicone adhesive which is commercially known as RTV."

The sealing ring may be provided in one, or both, of its axial faces with a circumferential recess to receive, locate and partiallyconfine the yieldable plastic substance, and it may also be provided with a circumferential, radially inwardly extending, groove in which may be confined a spring ring having the form either of a resilient wire ring or a coiled spring ring which serves to fill the groove and functions to maintain the desired circular formof the ring and its desired axial resiliency. lf desired, the groove may be filled with a compressible plastic.

Thus, by these means, the lamp, when screwed home into circuit-establishing assembly in its socket, will be resiliently locked in such assembly and sealed against the entrance primarily of moisture, and other substances, into the socket. Moreover, the resilient nature of the sealing means assures a continuable ability of it to adjust to changes in atmospheric conditions, particularly as reflected in variations of temperature and moisture content, to thereby maintain its sealing effect during the life of the lamp and to enhance such life, and the life of the socket.

l0 Claims, 12 Drawing Figures PNENTEDMAY 21972 3.660.800 SHEET 10F 2 INVENTOR.

BY LEWIS DETCH ATTOHVEY PATENTEBMAY 21312 3.660.800 sum 2 CF 2 INVENTOR LEWIS DETCH ATTORNEY LAMP SEAL MEANS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The invention relates to means for insuring the proper operation of incandescent lamps, and the prolongation of their service life, and the life of lamp sockets, by guarding against the ingress of moisture, dirt, lint, corrosive fumes and other foreign substances, inany service conditions of installation, while at the same time assuring the maintenance of proper electrical contact between the contact member of the lamp base and the live contact of the lamp socket, and between the said base and the metal shell of such socket.

2. Description of the Prior Art The prior art as now known is best illustrated by the following patents, namely:

503,349 Lee Aug. 15, i893 An examination of these patents will show that they are not directly pertinent to the present invention for the reason that all of them require for their practice both lamp sockets and lamp bases which are of non-conventional types, whereas the device of the present invention is so designed and installed that it may be used with lamps and lamp bases and sockets of conventional types. No special installation requirements are resented inasmuch as the device of the invention is merely applied to a lamp base of conventional type prior to its installation in a conventional lamp socket. Moreover, the device of the present invention serves to counteract, or prevent, many of the installation faults now prevalent and which often result in inefficient use and life of lamps and sockets with certain hazards of shock and possible fire both during, and after, installation.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The invention provides, primarily, a sealing means for incandescent electric lamps of the screw-base type for insuring the installation of such lamps in their complemental sockets in a manner which will guard against lamp failure due to entrance into the sockets, during service, of extraneous substances, such primarily as moisture, to thus prolong the service life of the lamps and make unnecessary the present costly and frequent replacement of lamps with the added inconvenience of service interruptions. To this end the invention comprises a collar or sealing ring formed of a resilient, compressible material, such as natural or synthetic rubber, for assembly upon the lamp in the base-adjacent area of the glass envelope and designed to seat upon the outer end of the lamp socket into which the lamp is screwed. The outer and inner axial faces of the collar or sealing ring, either one or both, may be provided with a circular depression, or recess, to receive a normally distortable resilient, but settable, plastic compound such as the silicone adhesive commercially known as RTV, and the normally cylindrical exterior surface of the collar or sealing ring may be provided with a radially inwardly extending circumferential groove which may preferably contain a filler member such as a resilient ring in the form of a spring wire member either in single loop. form or in the form of a coiled spring so designed as to be of endless circular conformation. Alternatively, the said groove may be filled with the aforesaid RTV, or a substantially equivalent substance, or it may be left unfilled. The function of the said groove is primarily to maintain the axial and radial resilience of the collar or sealing ring in order that it may readily adapt itself to sealing pressure against it by the envelope of the lamp against the outer end of the lamp socket, to thus insure a tight seal of the lamp in the socket and exert that pressure adequate to withstand inadvertent unscrewing of the lamp, and to maintain proper electrical contact between the lamp contact member at the end of its base and the live contact element of the socket, and with the metal screw socket and the lamp base.

Furthermore, when desired, a lamp lock member of the type disclosed in my co-pending application for patent for Lamp Lock Means, filed Mar. 10, 1969, Ser. No. 805,589, may be interposed in the lamp socket at the inner end of the lamp base to augment the sealing effect of the collar or sealing ring of the present invention by locking the lamp against loosening in the socket.

OBJECTS OF THE INVENTION The primary object of the invention is to increase the efficiency of installations of incandescent electric lamps by providing sealing means between the lamps and their sockets to the end that extraneous substances, such as moisture, dirt, grit, dust and the like, but primarily moisture, will not enter into the sockets around the metal bases of the lamps, and proper electrical contact between the ends of the lamp bases and the live contact elements of the sockets with which they are engaged, and the lamp bases and socket shells, will be effectively maintained, to the end that short circuits, corrosion, loosening of the lamps in their sockets, and other causes of lamp failure due to faulty installation, will be avoided and the life of the lamps'and sockets, and maintenance of service without interruption for replacements, inspection and serviceing of installations, will be achieved over extended periods.

A further object of the invention is to provide a sealing member which may be attached to the lamp as an adjunct thereof so that the lamp and attached sealing member may be presented as a salable integer, or may be applied to the lamp at the time of its insertion and seating in the lamp socket, the sealing member at such time being forced to a firm, and nonloosenable, seat between the envelope and base of the lamp and the outer end of the lamp socket, so that the socket will be effectively closed against the entrance of extraneous substances, contact of the contact member of thelamp base will be maintained, electrically, with the live contact of the socket member, electrical contact of the lamp base with the metal shell of the socket member assured, and the installation made trouble free for the life of the lamp and such life extended.

Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent as the following detailed description, taken in combination with the accompanying drawings, proceeds.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the accompanying drawings illustrating the invention, in the several figures of which like parts are similarly designated,

FIG. 1 shows, in enlarged detail, a conventional lamp socket, with parts in section, and including the assembly therein of a conventional screw-base lamp with a preferred embodiment of the sealing means of the invention applied thereto and engaging both the outer end of the socket member and the base member and envelope of the lamp. In this figure there is shown, also, a lamp-locking device of the nature disclosed in my copending application for patent for Lamp Lock Means, filed Mar. 10, 1969, Ser. No. 805,589.

FIG. 2 shows, upon a reduced scale, certain of the parts shown in FIG. 1, but with a different style of sealing means in accordance with the invention embodied therein,

FIG. 3 is a plan view of an axial face of one form of the sealing ring of the invention different from that disclosed in FIGS. 1 and 2,

FIG. 4 is a sectional edge elevation of the form of sealing ring shown in FIG. 3,

FIG. 5 shows, in sectional edge elevation, a further form of sealing ring applied to a lamp in engagement with a lamp socket,

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the lower axial face of the sealing ring shown in FIG. 5,

FIG. 7 is a plan view of one face of a sealing ring modified from that shown in FIG. 1,

FIG. 8 is a sectional edge elevation of the sealing ring of FIG. 7 with a coiled spring ring seated in the radially inwardly extending circumferential groove substantially as illustrated in FIG. 1,

FIG. 9 shows, in edge view, a sealing ring substantially similar to that shown in FIG. 2,

FIG. 10 shows, in plan view, a simple form of resilient spring ring primarily for use with sealing rings of the types shown in FIGS. 2 and 9,

FIG. 11 is an axial plan view of the sealing ring of FIG. 9 with parts broken away to show a spring ring similar to that of FIG. 10 seated in the circumferential groove thereof, and

FIG. 12 is a sectional elevation taken on the line 12-12 of FIG. 1 1.

' DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS SHOWN Having reference to FIG. 1, in which a preferred embodiment of the invention is shown, it will be seen that the sealing device of the invention comprises a ring or collar 1 in a substantially cylindrical configuration, including inner and outer.

parallel straight walls, of inherently resilient natural or synthetic rubber having a circumferential, radially inwardly extending, groove or recess 2 in which may be positioned a circular spring ring 3 in the form, preferably, of a coiled spring which seats itself against the inner face of the groove 2 and, in the presence of pressure tending to expand the ring or collar 1, will serve to counteract such pressure and maintain the ring in position upon those portions of the lamp 4 which are normally adjacent to the outer end of the lamp socket 5, such portions being, preferably, the outer end 6 of the lamp base 7 and the slightly offstanding bulge 8 of the glass lamp envelope 9 immediately adjacent to such base. Thus, when the lamp is screwed home in the socket 5, with its base contact 10 in electrical contact with the live contact 11 of the socket 5, the sealing ring 1 will be brought to a seat between the outer end of the socket and the bulge 8 of the envelope 9 of the lamp to thus form a seal between the socket 5 and the envelope 9 of the lamp which will be adequate to seal the socket against entrance of moisture or other substances which might tend to interfere with properperforrnance of the lamp in service and will, moreover, serve to provide the proper electrical contact between the base contact of the lamp and the live contact 11- of the socket, and-the screwthreads of the lamp base with the metal shell 5' of the socket 5, thus insuring trouble-free performance of the lamp and tending to increase its service life and the service life of the socket.

As shown in FIG. 1, the axial faces of the ring 1 are provided with circumferential recesses 12 for the reception of a plastic sealing substance 13, preferably a yieldable plastic material such as the silicone adhesive commercially known as RTV which will extend in a crowned form at the upper and lower surfaces of the ring 1 and will engage and adhere to the glass envelope of the lamp 4 and to the upper, or outer, end portion 6 of the metal lamp base 7 with a tenacious grip and in sealing engagement therewith adequate to preclude the passage of moisture and other substances past the engaged portions of the lamp and lamp socket shell.

Alternatively, as indicated in FIG. 5, the plastic substance 13 may be applied in a recess 12' at only one face of the ring 1 or, as shown in FIG. 2, it may be applied to the outer faces of the ring 1 which may be plain surfaces, or to only one of such faces, and similarly to the faces of the rings shown in FIGS. 7-8 and 9-12.

' If desired, the sealing ring thus applied may form a part of the lamp as furnished to the user, thus being an integer with the lamp and facilitating proper installation of such lamp in sealing engagement with the outer end of the socket. Alternatively, it may be properly positioned on the base end of the lamp and brought into sealing engagement with the said end of the socket when the lamp is screwed into operative position in the socket.

It will be noted by reference to FIGS. 2, 3-4, 5-6, 7-8, and

9-12, that the sealing ring of the invention may take a variety of forms, and that the circular springs may differ in form as indicated hereinabove, two preferred forms being shown, wherein in FIGS. 1 and 8 the spring 3 is of coiled form in closed circular shaped, and in FIGS. l0, l1 and 12 it is in the form of a resilient wire loop 3', or the springs may be omitted from the sealing rings as indicated in FIGS. 2, 4 and 5, the inherent resiliency of the sealing rings being considered as adequate for their proper performance in service, especially where they are, as alternatively proposed, secured to the lamps by the provision of the seals furnished by the yieldable plastic adhesive material 13, as indicated in FIGS. 2 and 5.

It will be apparent, moreover, that the spring rings 3 and 3 are so proportioned as to relatively snugly fit betweenthe adjacent faces of the grooves 2 and 2', thereby'to guard-against undue axial displacement or distortion of the sealing rings with the grooves of which the rings'are associated when the axial sealing pressure is'applied to the sealing rings.

Various changes and modifications are considered to be within the principle of the invention and the scope of the following claims.

What I claim is: I

1. Lamp seal means primarily for screw-base incandescent electric lamps, comprising an inherently resilient substantially cylindrical sealing ring including inner and outer parallel straight walls disposed between the lamp base and lamp envelope, and the outer end of the cooperating lamp socket, such straight walls of the ring providing two opposite axial faces adapted to'be thus firmly seated between such parts by the screwing of the lamp base into the lamp socket to thus seal the lamp socket against entrance thereinto of moisture and other extraneous substances.

2. Lamp seal means as defined in claim 1, in which at least one axial face of the said ring is furnished with a deposit of a partially defonnable inherently adhesive plastic substance for engagement with the glass envelope of the lamp.

3. Lamp seal means as defined in claim 1, in which each of the two axial faces of the said ring is furnished with a deposit of a partially deformable inherently adhesive plastic substance for engagement, respectively, with the glass envelope of the lamp and the end portion of the lamp base adj acent'thereto, and the adjacent end portion of the lamp socket.

4. Lamp seal means as defined in claim 1, in which the periphery of the said ring is provided with a radially inwardly extending groove, and a spring ring seated in such groove.

5. Lamp seal means as defined in claim 2, wherein the said ring is secured to the lamp by the said adhesive plastic substance to provide with said lamp a scalable integer.

6. Lamp seal means as defined in claim 2, in which at least one of said axial faces of the ring is provided with an axially inwardly extending recess for the reception and partial confinement of the plastic substance.

7. Lamp seal means as defined in claim 2, in which each of the two axial faces of the ring is provided with an axially inwardly extending recess for the reception and partial confinement of the plastic substance.

8. Lamp seal means as defined in claim 4, in which the said spring ring is in the form of a coiled spring wire having its ends joined to provide for the exertion of pressure against the base of said groove to insure pressure of the sealing ring against the contacted portions of the lamp.

9. Lamp seal means as defined in claim 4, in which the said spring ring is in the form of an open-ended spring-wire loop.

l0. Lamp seal means as defined in claim 4, inwhich the spring ring is so dimensioned as to relatively snugly fit between the adjacent axial faces of said groove to thereby guard against undue axial distortion of the sealing ring. 

1. Lamp seal means primarily for screw-base Incandescent electric lamps, comprising an inherently resilient substantially cylindrical sealing ring including inner and outer parallel straight walls disposed between the lamp base and lamp envelope, and the outer end of the cooperating lamp socket, such straight walls of the ring providing two opposite axial faces adapted to be thus firmly seated between such parts by the screwing of the lamp base into the lamp socket to thus seal the lamp socket against entrance thereinto of moisture and other extraneous substances.
 2. Lamp seal means as defined in claim 1, in which at least one axial face of the said ring is furnished with a deposit of a partially deformable inherently adhesive plastic substance for engagement with the glass envelope of the lamp.
 3. Lamp seal means as defined in claim 1, in which each of the two axial faces of the said ring is furnished with a deposit of a partially deformable inherently adhesive plastic substance for engagement, respectively, with the glass envelope of the lamp and the end portion of the lamp base adjacent thereto, and the adjacent end portion of the lamp socket.
 4. Lamp seal means as defined in claim 1, in which the periphery of the said ring is provided with a radially inwardly extending groove, and a spring ring seated in such groove.
 5. Lamp seal means as defined in claim 2, wherein the said ring is secured to the lamp by the said adhesive plastic substance to provide with said lamp a sealable integer.
 6. Lamp seal means as defined in claim 2, in which at least one of said axial faces of the ring is provided with an axially inwardly extending recess for the reception and partial confinement of the plastic substance.
 7. Lamp seal means as defined in claim 2, in which each of the two axial faces of the ring is provided with an axially inwardly extending recess for the reception and partial confinement of the plastic substance.
 8. Lamp seal means as defined in claim 4, in which the said spring ring is in the form of a coiled spring wire having its ends joined to provide for the exertion of pressure against the base of said groove to insure pressure of the sealing ring against the contacted portions of the lamp.
 9. Lamp seal means as defined in claim 4, in which the said spring ring is in the form of an open-ended spring-wire loop.
 10. Lamp seal means as defined in claim 4, in which the spring ring is so dimensioned as to relatively snugly fit between the adjacent axial faces of said groove to thereby guard against undue axial distortion of the sealing ring. 